Boy, am i ever late on this one!! We got our first computer back in either 1982, or 1983...can't remember. It was the type, that only took the 5 1/2 inch floppy...talk about old!!! Couldn't even play the type of adventure games on it, that was sold in the stores. But we did have adventure games to play...been so long i can't even remember what they were. Nothing anyone would have ever heard about anyway. What i consider playing "real" adventure games, was two years ago. My son bought a new computer, and gave me his old one. I was getting really frustrated, because i didn't even know how to get around on AOL, and was ready to give the thing away. Then he brought over Phantasamagoria, which i loved by the way, and i couldn't keep my face out of the computer. I've been hooked ever since.

Once upon a time, there was a gaming machine named Commodore 64. Many great adventures were developed for this and most of the time, the games were text only... Remember: GO W. You just found a river. LOOK. There is a bridge. CROSS BRIDGE. You can't, bridge is broken. Etc, you got the idea That's how i started, some very long time ago... Eventually i crossed that bridge, 3-4 years ago and bought a PC

Fascinating thread! It is interesting how many of us got into "the game" because of MYST. I have been into computers for a number of years, but primarily mainframe and MAC (I love MACs!). A couple of years ago I had a good buy on a pc, so I decided to get one for my home. I had run across the MARS HILL tapes, which come out every other month and consist of (very interesting) interviews by a talented interviewer by the name of Ken Myers. I took advantage of an opportunity of getting several years back tapes AND just at the time I was bedridden because of an operation, these tapes arrived and provided a nice alternative to reading, reading, reading, which was all that I was doing. I was most favorably impressed. Now what has this to do with Adventure Games? Well in the Jan/Feb 1995 tape was an interview with Rand and Robyn Miller on MYST. Rather interesting, I thought. They were also talking about a sequel (RIVEN). Not long after that I read in one of the news magazines an article about MYST & RIVEN and the developers. I figured that anything that Ken Myers thought worthy of an interview and a national news magazine thought worthy of an article was surely worth investigation. So, I found MYST in a store, played it (went pretty well after I finally found the tower and its significance) and began to think of computer gaming as rather fun. I was in a computer store and found SHIVERS and 7th GUEST and played them next. SHIVERS is still number 1 on my "hit parade". I then found Journeyman III (LEGACY OF TIME) and then, as the final clincher, RIVEN, and I became one of the TRAPPED. I didn't have a server for some time and I knew nothing of "BOARDS" and didn't deal with the WEB, so it wasn't until some time later that I checked in on a few. I found them rather noxious. I then came across Linda's Page and that was a revelation - a warm, friendly, no profanity, illuminating board peopled and run by Adventure/Puzzle game enthusiasts. Later I came across a reference to GameNuts and, after it started, to GameBoomers. Many familiar names among contributors to all three. I felt "at home", warm and cozy, in a non-threatening environment. Thank you all!

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It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. -- Aristotle

Okay,My story isn't all that interesting, but here it is. When my kids were in middle school and junior high, we bought and Apple IIE for them. I had no idea how to use a computer, but my kids and husband did. It didn't take me long to learn! So when the kids were out playing, I was on the computer The first Adventure game I played was a Scott Adams text adventure. I believe there were about 14 in all. They fascinated me, and I just kept playing them. Then came the stick figure text and people games. I believe the first graphic adventure game I played was on an IBM. The game was Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. It's still one of my all time favorites.

I got started with Adventure Gaming about 12 or 13 years ago. When my business (I am an Accountant), went to computer I found a shareware of word puzzles and cryptograms. That was enough to get me going. I have been a puzzle freak since the late 1930s. My office is in our home and I spend my spare time on gaming. It keeps my mind sharp and relieves the boredom of cutting back on my work load. I have several friends of the same vintage as myself and we pick games and play them at the same time to support and help each other. With lots of Grandchildren I have a good common ground to communicate with them also. Just been on the net about 18 months and find it an adventure in itself. I thank everyone for their wonderful input on games coming out. I have been able to obtain many games I would have otherwise missed.

It has been soooo loooong ago that I almost forgot how I started with computers and games. At first I played Colassal Cave on a Univac Mainframe (text only). Then I bought my first computer, Texas Instruments TR99/4A, I think. It had a HUGE 16K of memory, it had a Casette Tape for mass storage (what's a hard disk, never mind - what's a floppy disk). I played a series of text adventure games on that machine that I still consider "classic text adventure games". I sold that and bought an IBM Clone called Leading Edge with 64K memory, 5 1/4 floppy (360K) and the world's biggest hard drive (10 MEG). Wow - talk about a trip down memory lane!!! My first adventure game on IBM machine was Kings Quest I on 5 1/4" floppy.

I was breezing through some of the other topics now that I have a free moment, and I thought I would responde to this topic, albeit rather late...Anyway, I too played what was probably Colossal Cave, or something like it. It was a text adventure that the NJ programmers "slipped into" the UNIX based mainframe so we Force & Facilities people could do something interesting while monitoring the call volume late at night at our dumb terminals in Pennsylvania.

That was my very, very first interaction with adventure games, although I did not know what it would become. That was 11 years ago. Before that I had had an Atari, and then a Magnavox Odyssey, but that was exclusively arcade action. In 1993 I finally bought a Packard Bell dinky little 66MHz, 486 MB of disk space, and 4MB of RAM. The modem was 2400 baud. I still have the miniscule monitor it came with. It has since upgraded, but not to the whopping monster memory machines you guys were talking about I WISH!!). A friend built me a 166MHz, 32 MB RAM, 3 gig hard drive machine of $200 bucks. It does the job, and except for DOS installations which is just my own ignorance, I have few troubles with it.

Back to the game that got me started - the game was Myst. The ol' standard, Myst. I have never looked back. Hundreds of dollars later, I am still, at 48, having a ball. And yes, my husband ALWAYS knows where to find me!! Ha! Ha!

Good old Myst..... Sometimes I still can't believe how hooked I am on Adventure Games. I mean, I actually pout when I don't get a chance to play. My hubby has bowling and sports on TV.....that's how what I tell myself so I don't feel guilty.....LOL

Very interesting thread. I started adventure gaming back in the late 80's. I think King's Quest 3 or 4 was about the first one. My daughter and I have played many games together since then. We played the rest of the KQ games and especially enjoyed the Journeyman Project series and loved The Neverhood. Myst, Last Express and the Broken Sword series were also great. We have recently discovered some old classics like Zork Grand Inquisitor and Discworld 1&2 still very playable and enjoyable. Working on Discworld Noir just now and really enjoying it.